Clippers forward Blake Griffin was a late scratch just before the start of his team's 98-90 loss to the Wizards in Washington on Monday, and is listed as day-to-day. ALEX BRANDON, AP

WASHINGTON – The Clippers have been bad without Chris Paul of late, with losses in five of the last seven games he missed before Monday's game against the Washington Wizards.

Turns out they're even worse when Blake Griffin's out too.

Playing without their top two players in the nation's capital, the Clippers lost to the NBA's worst team on Monday, 98-90. The teams shot and rebounded evenly, but the Wizards capitalized on the Clippers' 20 turnovers to secure a rare victory.

"Really, the turnovers did us in tonight," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Guys were trying to do too much and ended up turning it over, then they would get fast breaks, which end in easy baskets."

The critical sequence came with the Clippers down one point with five minutes left. On consecutive possessions, point guard Eric Bledsoe lost the ball out of bounds, Grant Hill threw one away and Jamal Crawford did the same.

On the other end, Washington hit two free throws, a 3-pointer and a jumper to take a decisive eight-point lead. The Clippers couldn't get within six from there.

Losers of three in a row, the Clippers are now 1-3 on their current eight-game road trip, with a Wednesday tilt against lowly Orlando looming as an opportunity to get right.

Some Clippers seemed less concerned with the actual turnovers and more concerned with how the team responded to them.

"Turnovers are gonna happen," said Bledsoe, who had four of them and nine assists, plus 17 points. "It's part of the game. You just can't compound the mistake by turning the ball over and then not getting back on defense."

Del Negro said his team hasn't yet learned how to close games out without Paul, one of the NBA's top finishers, who has been out with a bruised right kneecap for much of the last month.

"We're giving pretty good effort, I think," he said. "But the turnovers right now are just putting us back on our heels."

Said Crawford, who had a game-high 28 points: "We were right there. And we've been there. I think we'll break through."

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